Ukrainian Forces Use “Mother Drone” to Strike Russia’s Kursk Region

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces used a “mother drone” carrying FPV strike drones to strike targets deep inside Russia’s Kursk region.

Vadym Sukharevskyi, Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, released the footage of the operation during the “European Defense Industry: Prospects for Cooperation with the Ukrainian Defense Industry” conference.

The system is based on a wing-type reconnaissance drone that carries two FPV kamikaze drones and serves as a signal repeater.

The stated operational range is 60 kilometers. Each FPV drone carries a 400-gram warhead—insufficient against armored vehicles or fortifications but effective against air defense systems, radars, or unarmored equipment.

According to the video, the 413th Raid Separate Unmanned Systems Battalion performed the strike and targeted engineering equipment involved in fortification construction about 55 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

The footage likely captures earlier stages of the operation in the Kursk region, when Russian forces started building defensive lines near the city of Kursk.

The Ukrainian forces first reported the use of mother drones carrying light attack drones in December 2024.

“Today we use so-called mother drones—FPV carriers with a strike depth of over 70 kilometers. They carry two FPVs and function as signal repeaters to strike deep targets. In my view, this is a real breakthrough,” Sukharevskyi shared at the time.

Such mother drones can take various forms, including fixed-wing UAVs, multicopters, balloons, or naval drones.

In September 2024, for example, the Ukrainian company Skye

ton presented a version of its Raybird drone capable of performing this task.

According to its developers, the Raybird can carry an FPV drone to destroy ground or aerial targets up to 80 kilometers away while simultaneously acting as a communications relay.

In March 2025, Ukrainian developers also presented an aerostat designed to carry FPV interceptors for use against Shahed-type attack drones.